If the launch of WD’s Sentinel NAS servers didn’t do enough to excite you, maybe this next announcement will: Updated Black 3.5″ models. If you’re of the mind that mechanical storage simply can’t get much better, WD wants you to take those SSD goggles off and listen to what it has to say.

On the performance front, the 1TB Black performs 26% faster than the last-generation, while the 4TB model sees a staggering 48% boost. Just what kind of performance improvement that is, we’re unsure. It could be a bit of an improvement on the throughput front and also the access time front – hopefully both.

Utilizing a new high resolution controller (aka: HRC), the latest Black drives double the bits inside the controller and improves things like tracking precision and calculations. This could very well be the main reason that these latest drives have seen such a stark improvement to performance.

Other new technologies include vibration control (VCT) and corruption protection (CPT) which help to make the drives “smarter”, allowing the mechanisms inside the drive to adapt to certain problems, like vibration. This in turn improves accuracy and efficiency.

As always, WD’s Black drives carry a 5-year warranty. Based on the image provided, be on the lookout for “WDx003” in the model number to assure that you are in fact picking up this latest release.

Rob Williams

Rob founded Techgage in 2005 to be an 'Advocate of the consumer', focusing on fair reviews and keeping people apprised of news in the tech world. Catering to both enthusiasts and businesses alike; from desktop gaming to professional workstations, and all the supporting software.

Have to say that I use the last gen 1TB WD Black drive as my main OS drive, and it was very fast, not a single problem either for the last 2 years. One thing that does show its head is typical for all hard drives – as they get full, they get a lot slower. I’ll still be getting an SSD for the OS though, but these Black drives are fantastic for high speed bulk storage, more specifically, games – if you’re like me and don’t like to uninstall and redownload games. Sure, they’re not as fast as the Velociraptor, but you get so much more storage.